Thursday, June 28, 2007

I've doing some driving in the middle of the country over the last few weeks. I thought you might be interested in how gas prices are running there -- and on the coasts.

Just for reference, I captured this set of prices around the corner from my house in San Francisco. On the rare occasions I buy gas I don't actually pay this much. It is possible to find gas for 20 or 30 cents less. But there are many stations in this range; I wonder why anyone buys at them? I wonder why the existence of cheaper stations doesn't force these prices down?

Lexington, Kentucky. Out there in horse country, gas looks pretty cheap to me. Cigarettes too, but who cares to asphyxiate themselves?

Zanesville, Ohio. Still below the magic $3.00 figure.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Still looking low. The first commercially successful oil well the country was drilled in this state in 1859. Until 1901 when oil was found in Texas, Pennsylvania was responsible for over half the world's oil production. Think of it, we've been only been hooked on the black gooey stuff for less than 150 years. That gives me a kind of hope.

Buffalo, New York. Prices creeping up.

Chilmark, Massachusetts. Okay, this is on an offshore island, but the price sure shows a coastal jump. Prices on the mainland are 40 cents lower or so, still higher than in the Midwest locations.

We don't get our petroleum much from within the U.S. -- so why are far inland prices so much cheaper? Inquiring minds want to know....

What's this blog about?

My musings on current events, current projects, current anxieties and current delights.

I started this under the Bush regime when any grain of sand thrown into the gears of the over-reaching imperial state seemed worthwhile.

I have worked to elect more and better Democrats -- and to hammer the shit out of them once we get them in office so they do the things their constituents want and need. It's a big job.

I have endured the dashed potential for a more transformational regime under Obama. The man has made himself an accomplice in the imperial crimes of his predecessor as well as committing his own. He has also almost certainly been the most progressive president most of us will live to see. I fear we'll look back on his years in office with mild gratitude for a respite from national leadership that was habitually stupid and vicious, as well as wrong.

Visitors here will find a lot of commentary on books I'm reading. I am very intentionally reading intensively offline these days. When it feels hard to find direction, it's time to learn something new.

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About Me

I'm a progressive political activist who runs trails and climbs mountains whenever any are available. I've had the privilege to work for justice in Central America (Nicaragua and El Salvador), in South Africa, in the fields of California with the United Farmworkers Union, and in the cities and schools of my own country. I'm a Christian of the Episcopalian flavor; we think and argue a lot. For work, I've done a bit of it all: run an old fashioned switch-board; remodeled buildings and poured concrete; edited and published periodicals, reports and books; and organized for electoral campaigns. I am currently an independent consultant to organizations seeking "help when you have to make a fight."